


At What Cost

by lifeinapizzabox



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Dark!Barry, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 19:24:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6533326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeinapizzabox/pseuds/lifeinapizzabox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a freak electrical storm gave Barry Allen superspeed and brought him to STAR Labs to learn what exactly that entailed, he thought that was the end of the story. Research, training, and taking what they learned to help others. It was the best thing that could have come out of his world being turned upside down. What he never expected was there for to be others, but two years and an excessive amount of black matter later and he was no longer alone in his powers. It was an adjustment he never expected to make, but if there was one thing he was sure of, going faster was more important than ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At What Cost

**Author's Note:**

> From the moment Zoom was introduced, I started humoring countless ideas about whose Earth-2 doppleganger was behind the mask. When it was finally revealed, I wasn't remotely satisfied or all that surprised, so I started thinking more about those AUs and this one stuck. Since a lot of this is based on that, I'm sticking with Earth-2 AU rather than throwing in another multiverse for reasons that will become clear later.
> 
> There are definitely more characters to come, and I will add them and more tags as chapters go up. This first part was only edited by me, so if anyone is interested in beta-ing, that would be awesome.

_Two Years Earlier_

“I keep an eye out for promising young talent, Mr. Allen.”

Not two months ago, Barry would have been thrilled to see his long time hero standing in his lab, and that was probably putting it lightly. He doubted he would have gotten words out after opening the door, but instead, he had made it as far as exchanging pleasantries and asking what brought him here without falling apart at the implication that he might be one of those talents. Even he could see the change.

Apparently a healthy amount of wariness came with being struck by lighting.

He had tried to cover that up, but the secret hadn’t made it long. A lighting strike in a CSI lab was hard to hide, especially after he left to catch a taxi _home_ before trying a _diner_ instead of cleaning up. His first careless mistake that only drew attention to how few consequences there seemed to be. His label as a fascination kept people focused on their questions - too many questions- and it was truly impressive that he managed to keep his newfound speed underwrap in all of it. He bent the truth about seeing doctors, afraid of what they may find, and he was determined to retain as much normalcy as he could through all of it. As far as he was concerned, it had worked too.

Which made him suspicious. As more time passed between him and the incident, the more he worried the questions would start coming from someone who found something. It was a concern that was even more prevalent as the latest interest was coming from one of the smartest men alive. With no idea what to do with his gifts, he had made mistakes and ended up in the occasional conspiracy blog or tabloid, but he tracked those as carefully as he did most mentions of the supernatural. To anyone on the outside, and no one was, no one knew about this either, it looked like another piece of the puzzle in what he saw as the mystery behind his mother’s murder.

It was unlikely that Harrison Wells knew anything. Barry doubted anyone kept track of these things like he did. It would take an impossibly keen eye to link the specific accidental flashes that he made to the date of the lightning strike. Then again, every part of this defied the odds.

“Mr. Allen.”

“Barry,” he corrected, the voice cutting into his thoughts. “This is a lot to take in.”

“Few forensic scientists reach your level after spending decades in the field,” he began and Barry forced himself to wait. That could be it, after all. He knew he was great at his job and had been recruited young. It may not make sense that it came to light now, but it very well could end there. Wells could have seen his name attached to a recent case in the papers, an impactful one worthy of drawing his attention. Who was Barry to judge whether or not that was the case? ‘Fewer yet survive lightning strikes.”

There it was. He knew it was wishful thinking.

“That’s what they tell me,” he agreed, trying to shrug it off as he always did.

“I have read your reports, Barry. The mix of chemicals that allegedly spilled should have killed you alone.”

“You are not the first to call me lucky,” he replied, moving behind his desk to straighten a few papers. It was mindless, unnecessary work, but it gave him something to focus on that made the lying come slightly easier.

“I was going to go with anomaly.” There was a long, knowing pause that drove Barry to look up at him. “What are you hiding, Barry Allen?”

“Nothing? There’s- there’s nothing.” Great, he had probably blown it already with the hasty answer. The chances of him actually saving it by continuing were low, but not enough to stop him from trying. “I got struck by lighting; my supplies were stacked poorly. It was a freak coincidences, and I was lucky. That’s really all there is to it.”

“I do wish I believed that.”

There was another pause before Barry surrendered, dropping all pretenses. Lying to Wells wouldn’t do any good if he already knew.

“What do you want from me?” he asked in a resigned tone.

“The truth,” he answered with none of Barry’s hesitation. “With that, I do believe my team will be able to help you.”

Barry tensed for a moment, pushing his hands back behind his neck and looking around his lab like it might hold some answer as to what he was supposed to do. The weeks he had been keeping this to himself had stretched on for too long. He couldn’t keep living like this, but more than anything, he wanted to understand. He wanted to know what was going on with him and why this happened. If there was any chance of finding answers, this was a risk worth taking.

In an instant, he was on the other side of the rooms, starting at a now smirking Wells.

“You are on fire,” he said, too calmly. The lack of urgency left Barry a few seconds to register his words before looking down and awkwardly stamping out his smouldering pant leg. That was proving to be the main problem. Maybe he would have tried more, but nothing held up for long against the friction and heat his speed generated. He had been able to put that much together for himself.

“How did you know?” He asked once it had died into a few stray wisps of smoke.

“I had a hunch. A hunch you just confirmed.”

Of course he had. Of course this was his mistake. He had been so easily tricked, but if everything else was true, well, maybe he would finally have some much needed help. It would make such an avoidable blunder forgivable.

“What do you want from me?”

“I want to understand you, Mr. Allen. The implications of this,” he waved his hand to indicate Barry’s speed, “are truly incredible. The things we could _learn_. What you can do is incredible, and I can only assume I have seen but a fraction of it. Your lack of burns are only the groundwork for countless innovations. The things we could do with your help, the things you can do. It would be a waste to continue on as you have been.”

He was impressive, a fact that was impossible to ignore. Wells gleaned more from one look at him than Barry had from all of the resources he had pulled to try and make sense of this. In a few minutes, he had found out the one thing he tried hardest to hide, and Barry realized despite how much he had read about him, the man in front of him was a complete stranger. While it went against all reason, he found himself nodding.

“I can use all the help I can get.”  


* * *

  
_Present Day_  


He woke abruptly, jumping out of the bed too quickly and experiencing a lightheadedness that he typically associated with not having gotten his much needed calories. It would explain the bed and the monitors, but there was something else off.

Barry hadn’t felt this specific soreness since he had first been struck by lightning. Of course that had been far from a typical experience. Most people didn’t get up from that at all, much less in only a few minutes and with superspeed. He doubted it would mean the same thing now that he had the speed, and it wasn’t going away. There was a moment of panic during which he thought he might have lost his access to the Speed Force, but a quick look around for someone to ask was enough to dissuade that idea. Everything around him was moving slowly, at his normal.

He willed himself to focus on the pace of those nearby, and in an instant, Caitlin was shoving him back towards the edge of the bed. Despite having been much closer to the reaction he had been expecting, delayed only in his eyes, he was reeling from the change in time perception and sat without protest. He cringed at the bright light she shined in his eyes and tried to put a hand in front of it only to have her swat it away. After a moment, her muttering turned into words and it registered that he should say something himself.

“What’s going on?” he asked groggily, trying to judge who else may be in the room around the light.

“Yeah, we were kinda hoping you could help us there.” The voice was easily recognized as Cisco standing off to his left, and Barry turned towards him, hoping to garner enough sympathy from him to call Caitlin off. He got an amused look and an almost apologetic shrug. Not the help against extraneous testing he had been hoping for.

“Not sure how much I can do there. Last I remember, I was in the Cortex and - ow!” he protested when she pulled off a few of the sensors that had been stuck to him, a person, without any warning. She waved for him to continue, and after a few seconds to rub at one of the still stinging patches, he was able to regain his place. “Yeah, like I said, I, well, we really were in the Cortex. Everyone. The accelerator had been on for a few seconds, maybe? Where is Dr. Wells? He might be able to help.”

Caitlin and Cisco shared the ever frustrating look that meant they were hiding something about him. It was a too often occurrence, keeping things from him that he needed to know. There were times he felt like an experiment, instead of someone who deserved an equal hand in all of this.

“You collapsed,” Caitlin said, apparently deciding he was allowed that critical piece of information.

“Yeah, I could have guessed at that. I’m still feeling a bit off, for that matter. Cisco-” He didn’t need to finish, easily catching the high calorie bars that was thrown his way.

“Glad to see the speeds still on,” he said with a grin. The easygoing tone made it hard for Barry to judge if that had actually been a concern.

“You aren’t the only one,” Barry replied, looking between the two of them. “Okay what is it?”

“It’s nothing,” Caitlin answered too quickly.

“Being out for nine months is not ‘nothing’,” Cisco muttered, earning himself a less than friendly look.

“Dr. Wells wanted to be here to explain the details, Cisco,” Caitlin almost hissed.

Any response Barry may have had -  _ months?  _ \- or defense Cisco could have produced was cut off by the entrance by Wells himself.

“Mr. Allen. It is good to see you up again.”

**Author's Note:**

> For reference, the "Present Day" is about 18 months before the start of Season 2 time. I plan on adding a third timeline as this goes on, so it'll become clearer then. The next chapter will be up and get the plot moving in the next few days.


End file.
